For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows grace and favor and glory - honor, splendor and heavenly bliss! No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Psalms 84:11

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Not Just Any Ol' Roast!

Well, I've been promising this recipe for what seems like DAYS... oh wait.. I guess it has been days. OOPS! Well, it's finally here, and that's what's really important, right?

When I saw this recipe in my new Crock Pot Recipe Collection I seriously HAD to have it! Just reading the ingredients list made my mouth water! Plus it was listed under the "Prize-Winning Recipes" tab... so it just HAD to be good!

The title of the roast? Heavenly Harvest Pork Roast... oh yeah baby!

It has a few extra steps involved, but I was able to get it all put together and in the crock in 20 minutes. So I really think the extra steps were a big pay off!

First step... and this is where my mouth started watering... add 1/4 cup of pomegranate juice and 1/4 cup of sugar in a small saucepan. You can find pomegranate juice in the produce section. Cook over low heat, stirring, until sugar melts. That took about 2 minutes. Pour into a 4 quart crock pot.

Then prepare your roast. I picked up a 3.5 pound pork loin. If you use something bigger than that I'd suggest using a larger crock pot as mine barely fit into the 4 quart. The rule of thumb is that you need to fill the crock at least 3/4 full otherwise it'll burn whatever you put inside. So you want it to fit snuggly.

I trimmed the fat off my roast, you don't necessarily have to. Hubs thought my roast was a little dry. I think next time I'll trim the fat but then add some butter on top of the roast while it cooks to add moisture.

Then mix your spices in a small bowl. You'll use 1 T of salt, 1 T of garlic salt, 1 T of steak seasoning, and 1 t of black pepper. It's a lot of salt obviously, because steak seasoning usually has salt too. I thought it was great, balanced out the fruit juices, but if you're having guests who have high blood pressure you could easily just use garlic powder instead of garlic salt, and then use No Salt steak seasoning.

Rub the seasoning mixture ALL over the pork. Make sure to get all sides, including the bottom.

Then place the roast into the crock, turn it over once it gets into the juice so that the roast is completely covered in that yummy pomegranate syrup.

And then pears! I know... SO GOOD! PS: I think this picture is proof that my photographing skills are getting better. Aren't you glad! lol

Slice and peel the pears. I used An'jou. They're in season right now, I just bought them for $1 a pound which I thought was a good price.

Then I stacked them on top of my roast. I think fruit and meat is a marvelous combo, don't you?

And then an orange! Yup, that's three fruit flavors for this roast! I used a tangelo, they're also in season right now.

Slice it up, and stack it up and around the roast too. I think these fruits and meats are going to be GREAT friends!

Then put the lid on and set your crock on High for 6-8 hours. Mine totally fell apart as I was trying to take it out of the crock. It's important to let a roast rest for a few minutes before slicing into it, so you should always take the meat out of whatever it's cooking in and put it on a plate or cutting board for a few minutes before slicing. Go ahead and pour that juice from the crock all over it while it rests!

And when it's done... your house will smell amazing and you'll have this fantastic roast that everyone in your family will love!

So there's the roast, as promised! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. :)

Combine pomegranate juice and sugar in a small saucepan. Cook on low until sugar melts. Pour juice into the slow cooker. Combine all seasonings in a small bowl. Trim roast to your liking, and rub roast with seasoning mixture. Place the roast in the crock pot and turn the roast to cover it with the juice. Slice pears and place on top of the roast, then slice orange and place on top and around the roast. Cook on High for 6-8 hours.

6 comments:

Ooooh, that does look and sound delicious! I just bought three pork roasts at Costco, so I need to get the rest of the ingredients and try this. Mr. H probably won't eat it, because he just doesn't like pork roast, but I know a couple of grandchildren who would love to join me for dinner when this is served. Mr. H can just go get himself a Big Mac!

Even not having ever eaten a single thing you've cooked, I think I can safely say you are probably one of the most - if not the most - amazing cooks I know. I can hardly believe the variety and sophistication of things you make and blog about. Pretty cool. If I EVER get any inspiration to try something fancy, I know where to get some recipes :) OK, so I freely admit: that is not very likely to happen. But it's the thought that counts... well, not really.